Allow police, judiciary to run their course: Australia

Criticising the media for its "wrong" reporting on an attack in Melbourne which the police claim was faked, Australia on Wednesday appealed to the media to allow the system of police investigation and criminal justice to run its own course.
The incident in which Jaspreet Singh claimed to h

Criticising the media for its "wrong" reporting on an attack in Melbourne which the police claim was faked, Australia on Wednesday appealed to the media to allow the system of police investigation and criminal justice to run its own course.

The incident in which Jaspreet Singh claimed to have been set alight near his home in Melbourne was carried across the world as a racist attack and it has done "serious damage to Australia's image in India," Australian High Commissioner to India Peter Varghese said.

Australian police on Wednesday claimed that Singh, who said he was attacked and set ablaze by assailants here, had falsely reported the incident for claiming insurance.

Varghese, in a statement, said that media reporting on the incident has fuelled the view that Indians had been singled out for racist attacks in Australia.

He said police investigations have concluded that no such attack had occurred. Singh, who appeared before a court there, has been given bail to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on March 15.

Varghese said Australia has zero-tolerance for violence and hoped those who carried such reports "would now set the record straight".

Australia has so far arrested 50 people in connection with cases involving Indian nationals, he said.

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